Repeating alarm-clock



PATENTED FEB. 16, 1904.

W. P. WINSLOW. REPEATING ALARM CLOCK.

APPLIQATION FILED AUG.29, 1903.

3 SHEETSSHEET 1.

N0 MODEL.

JllIoFgcys N0. 752,s19. PATENTED FEB. 16, 1904. .W. F. WINSLOW. REPEATING ALARM CLOCK.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 29, 1903.

N0 MODEL. 3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

No. 752,319. PATENTED FEB. 16, 1904. W. P. WINSLOW.

REPEATING ALARM GLOGK.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 29, 1903.

N0 MODEL. 3 SHEETS-SHBBT 3.

Vdiigzsszs y I 1 I a w @AHov cys UNITED STATES Patented February 16, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

REPEATING ALARM-CLOCK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 752,319, dated February 16, 1904;.

Application filed August 29, 1903.

To alt whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM FLETCHER VINSLOW, a citizen of the United States, residing at VVinsted, in the county of Litehfield and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Alarm-Clock, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to certain improvements in alarm-clocks, and especially to that class of clocks in which the alarm is sounded intermittently, as distinguished from the ordinary alarm mechanism, where the gong is sounded continuously until the spring has been fully unwound.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a novel form of mechanism for governing the operation of the clapper-rod and to provide a simple and inexpensive mechanism by means of which the intermittent movement may be governed by the ordinary clock mechanism.

A further object of the invention is to provide a means for regulating the intermittent movement of the clapper, so that the intervals of ringing will be uniform.

With these and other objects in view, as will more fully hereinafter appear, the invention consists in the novel construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and particularly pointed out in the appended claim, it being understood that various changes in the form, proportions, size, and minor details of the structure may be made without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of sufficient of a clock-train to illustrate the application of my invention thereto. Fig. 2 is a similar view of a portion of the same, illustrating the parts in slightlydifl'erent position. Fig. 3 is a detail perspective view of the upper portions of the governing mechanism detached. Fig. 4: is a view similar to Fig. 1, illustrating a slight modification of the invention. Fig. 5 is a detail perspective view of portions of the modified structure detached.

Similar numerals of reference are employed Serial No. 171,235. (No model.)

to indicate corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawings.

In the drawings, 1 indicates the frame of the clock, provided with suitable openings for the passage of the several arbors of the clocktrain. The time-train-actuating spring 3 has an arbor 4 and is connected by the usual train of gears to the escapement 5. The main arbor 6 carries a center wheel 7 forming a portion of the clock-train and in the present instance constituting also a portion of the mechanism for controlling the intermittent movement of the clapper.

The clapper-actuating spring 10 is connected by the usual train of gears 11 to the crown or escapement wheel 12 of the alarm mechanism, and with this escapement-wheel engages the usual anchor or verge 13, carried by an arbor 14, the arbor supporting the bell-clapper 15.

The timing-train and alarm-train illustrated in the drawings are of the usual type, and the alarm is set by means of an arbor 16 carried by the frame and extending out through the dial of the back casing of the clock and provided with a suitable knob by which it may be turned. This arbor carries the usual pointer traveling over a dial having numerals corresponding to those of the cloclodial, so that the pointer may indicate the time for which the alarm is set. The arbor is relatively stationary, and its front end, or that end adjacent to the clock-dial, is provided with a gear intermeshing with the reducing-gear of the timing mechanism, the hub of said gear being provided with a slot for the reception of a projecting pin 17, carried by the arbor.

The gear on the setting-arbor is forced outward by means of a spring 18, secured at one end to the train of the clock and at its opposite end provided with an inturned portion 19, adapted to engage an arm 20, projecting from the anchor or verge shaft. When the pin is in contact with the end of the hub of the alarm-timing gear, the spring will be depressed and thepalarm will be held from sounding. At the end of a predeterminedperiod of time the hub will arrive opposite the pin, and the spring will then force the gear outward and remove its free end from engagement with the arm 20 of the verge-shaft, so that the clapper may be free to vibrate. This mechanism comprises in general an alarm-actuating device common to a number of clocks already on the market.

In carrying out the present invention the frame of the clock is provided with suitable openings for the reception of a transverselydisposed pin or rock-shaft 21, having two arms 22 and 23. The arm 22 is bent laterally and presents an inclined tongue for engagement with the teeth of the center wheel and normally held in contact therewith by means of a torsion-spring 2 f, surrounding the rockshaft. The opposite arm 23 is extended in the direction of the alarm-escapement, and the end of said arm is engaged by a lug or pin 25, projecting from said escapement-wheel, during such times as the tongue 22 is depressed into a position between two adjacent teeth of the center wheel. When the tongue 22 is raised by the cam-like action of the teeth of the center wheel, the end of the arm 23 will be moved from engagement with the pin 25 and the escapement-wheel will be free to rotate and sound the alarm during all of the time the tongue is held elevated by the teeth. When a tooth has passed beyond the end of the tongue, the latter immediately descends under the influence of the torsion-spring, and the operation of the alarm ceases until the tongue is again elevated.

In order to permit the passage of the pin 25 under the arm 23, the latter is bent outward to form a clear space through which the pin may move without danger of stopping the escapement-wheel.

In the ordinary operation of the device the rock-shaft will be moved in and out sixty times per hour if the center wheel has the usual number of teeth; but it is only when the anchor or verge shaft is unlocked that this movement of the rock-shaft becomes effective. The tongue 22 will rest in a space between two of the teeth for approximately thirty seconds only during the time the alarm mechanism will be locked. During the next thirty seconds the tongue will be elevated and the escapement-wheel of the frame will be released and allow the clapper to vibrate. This movement takes place intermittently until the spring has run down or until the further movement of the timing mechanism has forced the end of the clapper-rod-locking spring inward. The structure may be modified to some extent and still controlled by the clock-train by placing an initial ratchet-wheel 3O loosely on the arbor of the winding-spring or at any other convenient point and arranged to receive thetongue 22. This wheel 30 is secured to a pinion 31, intermeshing directly with the center wheel or with any other desired wheel of the clock-train, and the length of time during which the alarm operates and the length of time during which it is silent may vary to any desired extent by altering the number of the ratchet-teeth or by altering the number of the teeth of the pinion-gear with the center wheel or by otherwise so arranging the gearing as to accomplish the desired result. It will be observed that this regulating mechanism may be conveniently attached to the existing alarm-clocks at a comparatively small cost, it being only necessary to provide the necessary openings in the frame for the reception of the rock-shaft and to place the rock-shaft and its arms in position. The escapement-wheel is then provided with a pin for engagement with the arm 23.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is The combination with the supporting-frame, of a timetrain, an alarm-train including an escapement-wheel, a verge-arbor, a verge carried thereby, a clapper-rod secured. to the arbor, a releasing-arm secured to the verge-arbor and controlled by the timing-cam of the clock, an auxiliary rock-shaft independent of and disposed parallel with the verge-arbor, a springpressed arm secured to the rock-shaft and having a tongue engaging with a toothed wheel receiving motion from the time-train and independent of the alarm-train, a pin or lug projecting from one face of the escapement-wheel, and a second arm carried by the rock-shaft and adapted to engage said pin or lug, the free end of the arm being movable in the direction of the center of rotation of the escapement-wheel during releasingmovement, and an intermediate portion of the arm being bent outward to permit the passage of a pin-or lug when the escapement-wheel is revolving.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto aflixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM FLETCHER WlNSliOW.

Witnesses:

Gnonen MORTON, G. F. RUPPE. 

